26th September - Well, I'm nearly ready. There are piles of stuff in both bedrooms, although I've yet to pack the bags. I'm getting both excited and a little nervous about the prospect of riding so far.

It's Barbara's birthday today, which is why I didn't set off any earlier, so we're going to have a celebration dinner tonight.

I'm now going to see whether I can publish this to the server via a dial up connection.....

I haven't really mentioned the preparations. There haven't been too many. Get the bike checked over, make sure those pesky people who want me to do work for them understand that I'M OUT OF TOWN!!! Do a bit of laundry, decide which bits to take and which to risk not bothering with, I've always got my Honda Riders Club card which gets me a free tow in the event of disaster. So, the bags are all packed with the exception of putting this laptop in the bag.

I'm amazed, I still have quite a bit of space left. So, I'm all set. 

I've just checked this URL using Netscrape. That animated GIF is hilarious. Internet Destroyer is far more sedate.

One worrying development is that I suffered a dreadful 'tank-slapper' whilst pottering through Ramona. This has repeated itself several times since then. It's always at a speed between 35-40 mph, and although it's easily cured with gentle pressure on the bars, it's kind of worrying all the same.

I think that it's probably all the weight on the back because the front wheel is very light. I'll check it later with the bags off, and if it's still there, I'm very reluctant to continue. I'll try to find a Honda dealer in San Bernardino, and if not, or they can't do anything, I'll cancel the whole thing.

On the other hand, if it disappears without the bags on, then it's nothing malignant and I'll have to live with it.

Anyway, apart from that, today has been great. You can see where I've been by going to the Route page. Once I got out of the San Diego murkiness, it's been sunny and warm all the way. Except for the Banning/Beaumont valley which was windy and foggy/smoggy/cloudy. Unpleasant, whatever.

It's amazing up in the mountains, because the air is as clear as a bell, yet you can look down on the clouds and murkiness in the valley below. Take a look at today's Pictures, and you might get an idea of what I mean.

Apart from the short length of I-10 in the valley, today's roads have made for awesome motorcycling and sightseeing. In fact I felt I had to choose between gawking or sweepers. Ah well.

So I'm here in the 'Sleepy Hollow' Motel, Crestline, from which it is utterly impossible to gain internet access. Tomorrow, then.

28th September - I  couldn't get a connection to the internet yesterday - it's a complicated story and no doubt it'll be repeated during the trip.

I woke fairly early and took the bike for a run without the bags on. No sign of any wobbles, never mind tankslappers, so that must be it. I'm debating with myself whether to increase the rear pre-load.

Today was just awesome. Especially I was more comfortable that it was now unlikely that my front suspension was about to break.

Going North on 138 from Crestline are some really tight twisties descending into the valley (valley? elevation 4,000 feet!).

I'd forgotten to get fuel in Crestline, but no problem, I happened upon a gas station before my fuel gauge dropped below 3/8.

Crossing I-15 I took Gary's suggested side trip via Big Pines. That was wonderful, with a great descent back onto flat and boring 138. The squirrels hereabouts seem to want to dice with death - I must have missed one by an inch today. I could see the fear in it's eyes <grin>.

The CHP seemed to be out in amazing force around Pearl Blossom - it's a 'Double Fine' area. I suspect they are on bonus.

Palmdale <yawn>

Except for breakfast in Alice's Buffet <yum>

I took Bill's (Poway Motorcycles) suggested route from Palmdale to Tehachapi. There I was, hurtling along what I thought was 90th St West, when I was in fact on 70th St West. <fx: Screech to a halt as the road runs out>

Other points of note: Cameron Road, from Tehachapi/Willow Springs Road is a great ride. There's a fantastic side road: From Tehachapi, take Tehachapi road North through Marcel and Walong. You can look down along the valley where route 58 runs, and you are so high up. There are a couple of photos in today's Pictures. Also, check out today's Route. Route 483 from Caliente was just great.

So, here I am, just North of Kernville (I stopped because I was just about to enter Sequoia National Park, and I figured that there wouldn't be too many places to stay).

I finally managed to get an internet connection. I'll see if I can persuade the office gal to let me borrow her fax line again later.

Today was great. I really enjoyed it.

It started out badly. I hadn't slept too well but, oh well. So I set off North from Kernville and climbed and climbed and climbed. By the time I'd got to the junction with 190 the outside temperature was 50 degrees and I was shivering badly. So, on I put my warm gloves and jacket liner. I was still shivering when I arrived at Ponderosa (elevation 7200) for a breakfast stop. They took ages to fry a couple of eggs and home fries, so I lost an hour just there.

And then the fun started. Imagine riding down Palomar South Grade about 20 times. That's what it was like from Ponderosa to Springville. Then, silly me, I took a wrong turning and headed into the Balch County Park. That's like riding backwards and forwards along Engineer Road about 50 times except the road engineers must have had a vicious distaste for motorcyclists. Talk about bumps and potholes, walking speed corners...

So I lost an hour there going up about 6,000 feet and back.

Things improved somewhat on the road I should have taken. Imagine Mesa Grande, about 40-50 miles in length.  That was fun, even if the scenery was a little same-y.

Then onto 198 where I was able to keep up a good clip until I got to the Sequoia National Forest. Yes, of course it was spectacular, nay majestic, just the trip up the mountains and through the Redwood forest would have made the whole thing worth it.

But, there's major road work which held things up a bit, and wouldn't you know it, a water truck pulled in front of me and started wetting down the mud and gravel. Do you think he had something against me? That was a slippy-slidy experience, and of course the bike now has some decent mud on it.

It's a great ride coming down out of the forest on 180. Sweeper after sweeper, fantastic. But by this time, despite several rest stops, I was aching - legs, back wrist, and the first signs of monkey-butt appeared.

So I was grateful to find a pleasant motel/resort in the strangely named Wonder Valley.

Not too many Pictures today, I was too busy riding. And the Route is not quite the actual one that I took. Streets & Trips 2001 doesn't know anything about several of the roads I ventured upon. Why doesn't that surprise me?

30th September - If yesterday was the day of the twisties, then today was the day of the sweepers. Some bad news. I went, sans bags, to get some fuel last night, and the steering wobble was still there. So I've taken a gamble that it'll be OK. Late news is that I re-checked the tyre pressures and the front tyre was a bit over-inflated. I'll see how it behaves tomorrow.

Here's some stuff that might be useful. I'm finding that my 'CamelBak' water bag is really great. It keeps 50 fl oz of water (or whisky, if that's your thing :-) cool all day. Today it was a life saver, as was the necktie thingy that you douse in water, and the hydrophilic gel absorbs it. So, when you wrap it round your neck the water evaporates and keeps your jugular veins cool. The temps got to 95 today (see yesterday, I need to be careful what I wish for!). Oh, and having a compass in the map pocket of the tank bag, on top of the map, is great reassurance that one is heading in the right direction.

Today was just great, mostly variations on the sweeper theme, some slower ones, some really fast ones, punctuated by the spectacular Yosemite Valley. What can I say? If the Sequoia National Forest is majestic, then the sheer spectacle of Yosemite is probably the eighth wonder of the world. The Pictures don't do justice to it.

And Gary Steinweg emailed me to suggest a different route, 140 to Mariposa. I took it and found it just wonderful. After the stuttering 35 mph through Yosemite, it was great as to take those rolling corners at speeds up to <fx:shock, horror> 80 - 85 mph was exhilarating.

So, now I'm in the oddly named 'Arnold' on route 4 at a motel called the Timberline. Tomorrow, I have the delights of Ebbett's Pass (8,730 ft) and Lake Tahoe. Check out my Route of today.

Finally, I've added the average fuel economy to the stats page. I guess I've just been riding slowly.

1st October - Today's theme is very woody. Or there seemed to be a heck of a lot of trees.

Off I set up Route 4 to Ebbett's Pass from Arnold. I had learned the lesson of the Sequoias and donned warm gloves and jacket liner. As it happened it never dropped below 55 degrees.

On the way up to the top I missed a downed sport-biker. I only discovered this fact later from some other folks where I had stopped to take a photo. So it befell me to act as messenger. I waved down a couple of bikes coming up from the East who were looking for their friend and told them of his location (apparently unharmed, state of bike unknown). When I arrived at Markleeville, there were a gaggle of bikers who asked me if they had seen their comrades. I told them the news, offered them the use of the mobile phone and/or CB radio. But they declined and hared off up the mountain.

So I went into the Alpine Hotel, the place to be if one is a biker around here and ordered breakfast. Half an hour later, not one of the three groups of folks who had arrived before me had been fed, so I upped and left. All I wanted was a couple of eggs and home fries. Ah well.

Today, there were bikes everywhere. All styles, all waves. I caught up with a couple of sport-bikers taking the West route past Lake Tahoe. They were clearly as frustrated as I was with the ponderous car traffic which seemed to be completely aimless and without a whit of concentration on driving. So we had a fun time whizzing past the cars, the drivers of which were mostly completely oblivious to the fact that there were three bikes shining bright headlights into their mirrors. A few were cool and pulled over, but not many.

Lake Tahoe is OK. That's all there is to say. See the Pictures page for a comment.

After I peeled off at Tahoe City and headed up 89 it became very woody. Trees, trees trees, for about a hundred and fifty miles, and frankly, the road isn't too engaging, either. Just on and on and on at a flat 70 miles per hour, even where the corners are marked at 45, 40, or 35 mph. I followed a Dianese be-leathered Kawa 600 rider for about 50 miles who was making his own fun by accelerating hard through these corners and getting the bike well leaned over.

I too had a bit of a surprise. In the Zen-like state of mind that comes after a few days of riding twisties, I rounded one (which I felt was pretty mild) corner and found myself dragging my boot on the asphalt. Huh! And it was me who always giggled as the cruiser types shower sparks on the slightest bend. I checked the 'wimp-gap' (the gap between the obviously used section of rear tyre and the edge of the tyre) later and it was clear that I'd been right to the edge, although not for very long! And I thought I'd been riding very conservatively.

The second highlight of today (after Ebbett's Pass) was the Lassen Volcanic Forest. There were sulphuric clouds (very difficult to photograph an awful stench) and some awesome views from way up high.

And that was it, really. I decided to head for Redding, to give me a good start for tomorrow, and I hit the gas quite hard along Route 44, despite the fact that the sun was right in my eyes. I reckon that even if I take time out to do some laundry tomorrow, I'll easily visit Oregon (briefly) and see the Pacific Ocean. A lot of miles today. See the Route page for details.

2nd October -The very best of motorcycling.

No internet access tonight, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow.

Today was just wonderful. The essence of roads that were made for motorcycling - my type of motorcycling, anyway.

I hit the road late, I had to do some laundry, and the dryer seemed to take ages. At least breakfast at Denny's was served promptly and efficiently. What a notion!

Route 299 melted out of Redding into a wonderful sweeperful ride which only improved as I turned North onto Route 3. There are two great ascents on this road. Both reasonably quick, but with good visibility around the corners mostly, except for one or two first gear tight ones that'll creep up on you if you are not careful. In between there's a lot of sweepers, and a few straights. But you won't get bored, there's lots to look at, the countryside is just beautiful.

A couple of Ducati riders passed me, and I pulled into the gas station at Etna and there they were, only a couple of minutes in front of me, having passed me about 30 miles back. They had come down from Portland, OR for a few days riding in California.

We jawed a bit, and they set off, me too a little later. On the way to Yreka (Y Yreka?) I slid to the front of a long line of traffic waiting to be let through some road works. Sometimes, being on a motorcycle has serious advantages, especially as I was able to wisecrack with the gal who was organising the traffic flow. I discovered that they get paid $40 an hour to swizzle a stick which says 'Stop' on one side and 'Slow' on the other. Nice work if you can get it. <ggl>

Through Yreka I picked up Route 96 and headed down the Klamath River Valley. This is just so pretty and such a great ride. All the way to 'Happy Camp' it's just one sweeper after another.

At Happy Camp I took a break and then headed North to O'Brien.  It was like a last flourish - twisties up to nearly 5,000 feet and a road apologetically labelled as 'uneven' (my, if this is uneven, then my ironed shirts are crumpled).

Then West to Crescent City. Again, great riding, sweepers all the way, through Redwood forest where chunks were cut out of the 200 feet tall trees to let the semis through.

And finally, to the ocean.

<sigh>

Pictures, Route

And so, having hit the turning point, the farthest North point, I am headed South tomorrow. On my way home.

I'm not suggesting that this is the end of the adventure, just a psychological way-point. And the style and scenery is going to be way different. No more big mountains, no more, 'Heck, I'm on my own out here' wilderness.

Shame.

3rd October - Road construction, Logs and Chill. These were the themes of today.

The temperature variation was amazing, starting out at 50 degrees, rising to 80 then dropping again to 55. The answer to why this is, I'd imagine, closeness to the Ocean. The closer the colder. As a result, I had to keep taking off, then putting on again, extra clothes.

Today has been punctuated with orange-vested road-people swizzling their 'Slow/Stop' signs. At one point I had to wait as they actually laid the asphalt that I then got to ride on.

And the log trucks, hundreds of them, everywhere. Even on the tight twisties of Highway 1. Not once did an oncoming log truck so much as steal an inch of my side of the road, which is more than can be said for other road users.

An interesting day, visually, lots of Redwood forests to begin with, and I took the scenic routes through forests where possible. Those Redwood trees are BIG, with all capitals. I've included a photo of one amongst today's Pictures with the bike at the base of it to give perspective.

At Leggett, I turned West onto Highway 1, thinking that it'd be a straight line down the coast. Imagine my surprise when the first 22 miles were like Palomar South Grade having a 'Bad Hair' day! Up and down and round and round we went. I swear I was real-life dizzy by the time I reached the ocean.

By which time it was cold again.

Route 1 is a delight to ride with a mixture of straight bits, sweepers and tight turns. Always visually attractive, how could it not be with Pacific almost always in view? Have a look at today's Route.

As for me, I started to feel 'ridden out' and frankly not enjoying the physical process much. So I stopped early (4 pm) at a Motel where yet again it's impossible to gain access to the Internet. I'm going to grouse about this: It's so stoopid of these motels to put a phone in your room, and only allow you to make free local (meaning, within 300 yards of the hotel, you may as well walk and knock on the door), or credit/calling card calls (yes I know that one can set up the dialler to use calling cards, but not the way these idiots have their phones set up). This is to prevent 'guests' from racking up a huge phone bill, and then departing in the middle of the night, I suppose. But wait a minute, have they never heard of credit cards, or the notion of 'checking out'?

So, it'll be San Francisco and Southwards still tomorrow.

4th October - A day of extremes. I looked out of the window after I awoke. Shock, horror - it had rained! I thought, 'Uh-oh, this is going to slow me down', but fortunately the worst that happened was that it was very damp and misty for about twenty miles. I gambled, correctly, that I wouldn't need my rain suit, and headed South. And all was well, except for the road construction crews <fx:sigh> And I swung along the sweepers, leaning from side to side, having a great time. And getting glimpses of the Ocean to my right most of the time. I stopped at Jenner (see Pictures), to fill up and get something to eat and some coffee. And then the road went haywire. It is as though the road engineers got very very drunk and decided to include random tight turns in random directions, not particularly caring that the road was supposed to go South at some point.

They clearly recovered after about 15 miles, and the road proceeded as before. Check out the Route)

I had overtaken a couple in VW van the previous day, and they happened to stay at the same motel that I did. The fella looked at my bike and wistfully exclaimed that he wished he'd brought his with him. I overtook them twice today, and they made a big deal out of pulling over for me. Nice folx :-)

All proceeded well until a little South of Stinson Beach on Route 1. Those frigging road engineers must have got seriously drunk this time. Sheesh! I've never experienced the like of it. That road has more ups and downs and round and rounds than any ride at Disneyland. On and on it went, until eventually I picked up Route 101 just North of the Golden Gate Bridge.

And then, hey, I was immediately in City traffic. What a concept? I hadn't done any serious city stuff in the whole trip until now. Over the Bridge I went and into the vista point for a couple of photos and a disgusting and very expensive hot dog.

Then, darn me, things like traffic lights and queues. This was definitely not in the plan! I have to admit that I misjudged my lane-splitting at one point and hit one poor guy's mirror with one of the hard bags. I apologized, but he didn't seem very impressed. No damage done though :-)

And then, after about 20 miles, the city stuff faded away, and Route 1 became mostly 2 lane blacktop again, quite unchallenging from a riding point of view, but with pretty sandy coves which seemed much less foreboding than their counterparts North of San Francisco.

I decided to stop at Monterey, because the map shows very little civilised habitation for a long way South of there. It's like a flashback, because I did this part of the trip way back in 1979 in a rented car on my way to San Diego for a convention. How it's changed! There was no Freeway then, Monterey was a tiny little town, and Cannery Row was a few wooden shacks, much as it would have been when John Steinbeck wrote his stuff.

And Santa Cruz hardly existed. Now it's yet another 'ho-hum' Californian City.

I'll be very interested to discover what else has changed since 1979.

And at least I now have an internet connection. At last.

If my memory serves me well, tomorrow should hold some tremendous scenery and riding. I'm guessing that even with a side trip across the Angeles Crest, I should be home in time for tea on Friday.

5th October - A day of shattered memories. It's almost as though the Route 1 that I experienced in 1979 never existed.

It didn't start out too well. I was feeling a bit anxious about some (not too close to my home at least) news that I'd had from B. The practical implications of which were that I'd get home only to find her gone (temporarily, I trust). So that put a bit of a dampener on the start of the day. Then to make matters worse, it was cold and damp again. To make matters even worse, I attempted to enter the '17 mile drive', where I guess that the point is to wonder at the affluence of the folx who live along it. I was never to find out, as they refused me entry.

The dialogue went something like this:

'No motorcycles allowed in here, sir'

I respond, 'I'm curious, why is it that no motorcycles are allowed in here, sir.'

'Because, this is all private property and we can decide what we want to do.'

I respond, 'Yes, I understand that, but just exactly why are motorcycles excluded?'

'Because some of them make a lot of noise and the residents don't like it, and we can't discriminate between quiet and noisy motorcycles, can we, even if yours is very quiet.'

I respond, 'Your rules are your rules, sir', thinking him and the system to be a total idiocy, when my bike makes a lot less noise than some four wheeled vehicles, and also thinking that they're effing stoopid not to be able to apply discrimination if it is they who are making the rools.

So that left me with a real sour taste in my mouth, so I didn't bother going to Carmel. F them, I thought.

Let the lessons be learned, motorcyclists: One, 'Loud pipes saves lives' is B*llsh*t, it just pisses people off. Two, Boycott anyone and anything that comes from Monterey.

So, in disgust, I headed South on Route 1, which was mostly much as I remembered it. I won't mention the French-Canadians who held me up for ages because it would be impolite to recall how much the English and the French hate each other. <grin>

Incidentally, I've just read a book by a French historian about the Rwandan genocide in 1994 who freely admits that much of the French motivation for supporting the oppressors was due to their hatred of the English (by the way, that includes the Americans, I'll have you know)

Anyway.... funny how one gets to personalising this stuff...

Frankly, it was miserable, cold, and there's no fun following trailers at 25 mph when one should be free to carve the corners.

But, nonetheless, after I managed to get around these folx, it became a better ride. And the temps edged their way upwards.

But what astonished me, at around San Simeon, was how civilised the road had become. Lots of straight roads, nothing like my experience of '79. To make it worse, at San Luis Obispo and southwards, it was just one habitation after another, so unlike my expectations.

So I regrouped and thought, 'This isn't what I'm here for. Head for the hills!'

Which I did and promptly missed a turning on 101 and headed back to Santa Maria <fx:OK, so I can't navigate>

Oh well.

But I eventually managed to find route 154, and failed to take a photo of today's lake, as they'd closed all the vista points, so I hope the substitutes work OK (Pictures).

And I really did want to see Santa Barbara again, as I have such fond memories of this ocean-side place with a mountain backdrop. So I did :-)

And here I am in Ventura, I've yet to figger out the best route for the Angeles Crest tomorrow.

But what I would say is this: Route 1 has been ultimately emasculated.

The moral is: Never Go Back

Or find a better Route

6th October - I saved the best 'til last. And arrived back to rain in San Diego.

Today started overcast and dull in Ventura. I debated with myself whether to just hit the superslab and come straight back to home. I'm glad I didn't.

I took 101 South-West and picked up 116 East to Fillmore. Then a right turn took me onto route 23. By now it was drizzling with rain, and I had problems with visibility. This was a shame, as this route (23), unbeknownst to me, was twisty after twisty. I'm sure it's great when the weather's clear. I'm also sure I missed some other good roads hereabouts, but I had no prior information, and my main motivation was to get to Angeles Crest. Feeling a bit dispirited with the weather, I headed East on 118 with which I parted to pick up Foothills Blvd near Pacoima.

I then trundled through the very worst of LA suburban blight via Sunland and Tujunga, trying to locate the turning into Tujunga canyon. After several bad tries, I asked a mail-man, and he put me straight. Thank you, Mr Postie.

But, ah, it was all worth it. The trip through Tujunga Canyon and then the Angeles Crest matched almost the very best that the previous 9 days had to offer. Absolutely fabulous, as is sometimes said by persons of the English disposition.

Sweepers, sometimes a little slow, and the road surface is a bit rough to be considered full 'canyon-carving' territory, but nonetheless, great motorcycling.

And the views, they knocked me out. Soon rising above the clouds, the temps rose and I could strip a couple of layers off. What gets to me is that the Angeles Crest is so relatively close to SD, easily do-able in a long day, or over two days, yet no-one in SD really talks about it. Hear this, the Crest is the very best motorcycling available within reasonable striking distance of home. Do take a look at the Pictures, and see whether you agree with me.

It was all over just a little too quickly, heck it's only 50 miles end to end <grin>. I filled up with gas and gritted my teeth and took 15 South all the way home. One guy pulled alongside me and just stayed there, gesticulating. I wondered whether he had spotted something wrong with the bike.....

Until he pulled a broad grin, and gave me the thumbs up, pointing to the bike. Nice.

I took a much needed butt-break in Temecula, and then set off for the last stretch. And would you believe it, it rained! Not much, but enough to make me feel the irony that Sunny San Diego should rain on me on the way out, leaving me almost completely free of wet stuff for ten days, and then rain on me when I got home.

Here's today's Route.

Postscript. Some further thoughts.

I had a great time and really enjoyed it. It was also fun to have Barbara, Marc Kaiwi and Gary Steinweg, and somewhat remotely, Suzanne Miller 'virtually' riding along with me, thanks all. 

Bike - I wish I'd had the steering bearings fixed before I set off, it was no fun having wobbly steering between 35 and 45 mph, especially as this was exactly the speed I was travelling at in the early part of the ride.

My advice is to make sure that the bike has zero defects at the start, otherwise it'll be on one's mind all the time, and that's no fun.

I really welcomed my throttle lock, a poor man's cruise control, costing about $12. It enabled me to rest my right wrist every now and then.

Things to Carry 

The things that I took and didn't need are as follows: CB Radio, cell phone, tyre repair kit, tools, first aid kit (including space blanket), spare Ziploc bags, rain suit. I'd still take all of these, for obvious reasons.

I took 1 pair of Jeans and 2 pairs light zip-off cargo pants. I only needed one of the pairs of cargo pants, and so could have saved some weight by dispensing with the other pair and the Jeans. Likewise I took 4 long sleeved warm tops and only used one. I could have taken more jockey shorts, tee-shirts and socks so I wouldn't have needed to do any laundry en-route.

Things I'm glad I took: Compass, loads of marked up maps (both in top pocket of tank bag), CamelBak insulated water pouch, chain lubricator, tyre pressure gauge, digital camera, laptop (yes, I'm a geek, but it was very useful to be able to stay in touch with business issues, etc.).

I wish I'd taken a handful of real Yorkshire Tea bags. 

A GPS unit might have been useful, I'm not sure how much, though. It just might have helped me avoid the two wrong turnings that I took. Even then, I'm not sure that I lost much by taking them. It was fun, sort of.

Riding

I'm so glad I bought a new pair of leather pants. I would have given up after the first day with the old ones. My advice is to have as few distractions as possible, including uncomfortable clothes/boots. Other pieces of advice include:

Ride at a pace well within known capability. If this means taking corners more slowly than might be fun, then so be it. The last thing you want to do is fall off the bike in the middle of nowhere, 1,000 miles from home.

Try to avoid being either too hot or too cold. I was really lucky in my timing, as the temperature was always between 50 and 95 degrees. Believe me, being either too hot or too cold ruins one's concentration and is no fun at all. Fortunately, my jacket has both a detachable insulating liner and various ventilating zipper thingies. I also took summer and warm gloves. With all these and the water-absorbing necktie, I was able to keep comfortable for most of the time.

It's amazing how quickly your back/arms/wrists/legs/backside recover if you just stop and get off the bike. About 10 minutes, in my experience. So, my advice is, if it hurts, stop doing it. It's no fun at all to ride when it hurts, and again, it saps your concentration.

I get grumpy if I ride when I'm tired. I planned to do 240 miles a day and actually did about 270. On these types of roads which mostly require constant full attention, any more than 300 miles a day, for me, was too much. So my advice is, stop riding when you stop enjoying it.

Make sure you've always got plenty of fuel to get the next known new supply. It's distracting to be pondering whether or not you will make it, with the consequences that it might have in the wilderness. Fortunately for me, I've got a 5.5 gallon tank and excellent fuel economy. So I was never too much at risk.

Thanks for reading this story.